This invention relates to material working tools and more particularly to a sander with vacuum capabilities.
In the construction trades there are many areas of expertise which require a range of specific hand tools to accomplish the desired task. For example, in the area of drywall construction, the tools required may include a saw to cut and a hammer to put up plaster board, a spatula for applying plaster to hammer marks and the tape that covers the joints between the boards, and sanders to smooth the plaster to the dry wall surface.
Sanders may take a variety of forms to aid the workman in his endeavor. Those most commonly used in drywall sanding are manually worked sanders which may be either hand held or have an elongated handle for sanding in high or otherwise inconvenient to reach places. There are also electric sanders to alleviate some of the strain on the user. In any of the procedures used, the problem of the fine sanding dust produced has served as a constant annoyance to the user.
To overcome the problem of the dust, there has emerged a variety of "vacuum sanders" that pick the dust up as it is created by the sanding process. For example, Pat. No. 4,062,152, issued to Mehrer, discloses a drywall sander of the vacuum type that employs a porous abrasive sheet attached directly to a planar support plate in communication with a vacuum manifold through a plurality of bores in the backing plate. This device requires a universal joint and a boot to work the invention with a handle. Besides being complex in design, the Mehrer sander is not designed for use as a hand-held device (without a handle). Furthermore, the backing plate is not porous, having only discrete, spaced openings, nor is it designed for easy assembly with and removal from the manifold. Also, the irregularities encountered in the surfaces being sanded are not dealt with adequately, if at all.
It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide an improved vacuum sander which is of relatively simple design and easy to use, whether hand-held or mounted at the end of an elongated handle.
Another object is to provide a vacuum sander with an open-grid support releasably attached to and forming one side of an enclosed housing to provide better and faster dust pickup, ease of cleaning, and more economical fabrication.
A further object is to provide a vacuum sander that compensates for irregular surfaces through the use of a foam pad between the rigid support and the abrasive sheet.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.